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Home , David Speedie, Gerry Francis, Graham Taylor, Ian Rush, Jamie Vardy, Ronny Rosenthal

EPISODE 2 GUESTS: & Paul Robinson

04/04/20

1 The View from the Vic Episode 2 As an accompaniment to the podcast, we’re happy to provide an accessible commentary. We have included the introduction to the episode below, where the guests are introduced.

Jon Marks: Hello and welcome to the View from the Vic, our new official Football Club podcast.

I’m Jon Marks and we’ll be with you every week to bring you news and views from The Hornets’ camp and we’ll be joined by special guests throughout and we’ll hear from you, the supporters too. Very shortly we’ll be joined by Head Coach Nigel Pearson, plus former Hornets defender Paul Robinson and as always, Kevin Affleck, who works at the club as a media consultant.

As last week, we’re all following the latest government advice to stay at home, so we’re recording the podcast remotely, as we’re all staying safe in our own homes. You can all keep up to date with the latest news and advice via our website, which is starting to take on a new look, so let us know about that: watfordfc.com of course. [“We’ve got Super Nigel Pearson” chant plays in background] Now I’m delighted to be joined on The View from the Vic by a trio guests. So, hello and welcome to ‘The Gaffer’, Nigel Pearson…

Nigel Pearson: Hello there Jon Marks: Former Hornet, Paul Robinson… Paul Robinson: Alright Jon Jon Marks: And Kevin Affleck… Kevin Affleck: Welcome Jon, Hi super Nigel, Robbo! Paul Robinson: Alright Kev Nigel Pearson: Hi Kev

Jon kicked things off by speaking with the guests about how their lives were going, given we were now into the second week of enforced lockdown measures in the UK. Nigel started by saying there was a sense of having to adjust to a new kind of normal and spoke of how shocking the situation is, paling the football world into insignificance. He said:“We’ve got my Dad staying with us now… He’s 86, he’s my head gardener now and he’s doing a great job outside and I’m his apprentice!” He also updated us on the adjustments he’s had to make in his job, especially having to adapt to a new way of communicating with the squad and his staff, speaking of the pros and cons of video calls. Paul Robinson jokingly mentioned of how

2 The View from the Vic Episode 2 he’s been having to sin bin his children for tackles in the garden, when refereeing. He said this came in between times when he’s having to act as a school teacher to his children, after asked by Kevin Affleck if he’d been handing out any detentions.

? *Trivia Teaser – Who am I? First Clues*

At this point in the episode, Jon introduced the ‘trivia teaser’ for the episode – a game of ‘Who am I?’. The first set of clues are: I was born in 1963. I played 30 times for Watford. I won league titles in , Belgium and and I became the first Non- UK player to move to an English club for more than £1million in 1990. Nigel and Paul believe they know the answer already, so the pressure is on!

Jon then touched on the ongoing Hornets at Home initiative, speaking of how there have been over 300 volunteers, predominantly made up of supporters as well as there being members of staff involved. This prompted Nigel to speak of how he had been struck by how important the club is to the local community and how this made him feel like he wanted to help out with making calls to certain vulnerable or elderly supporters. He was also taken aback by one of the players, who had made 22 calls the previous day, as part of the initiative. He also spoke of the importance that an initiative such as this possesses integrity and authenticity, later saying that “hopefully people do recognise that there is a community spirit and I believe that our football club is very much at the centre of that as well”.

Paul joked about how some supporters were struggling to put a face to his voice over the phone, during his involvement with making calls to supporters. Having grown up through ’s tenure as manager, Paul said it felt completely normal being involved in a community initiative such as this. Nigel then went to speak of how conscientious and professional the players are and that they understand the uncertainty at the moment in terms of the season and when it might be completed. As well as players looking after themselves from a fitness maintenance point of view and trying to stay in the best physical shape possible, Nigel spoke of how the players’ mental wellbeing was just as important and is something that is being monitored day-to-day.

The talk then moved on to ’s cycling club that had gone viral over the week prior to this episodes’ recording. On the topic, Nigel said: “Forget the football for a minute. You can’t underestimate the power of positive people, positive spirit and

3 The View from the Vic Episode 2 a togetherness and those types of things are driven by the players. People want to ask me about what’s changed – you hear me say it a lot. It’s about setting up the parameters for the players nd then the players drive it. When I saw that the other day, what it said to me was – it’s really important that we still have this ability to get together and keep in contact with each other because when we restart and it’s very difficult to pick up where you left off (or not), we have to be ready for restarting and being responsible for the outcome of our season and that’s what it’s always about.” He went on to say how they often speak of trying to affect the things that they can affect, which is ultimately just themselves at a time like this.

In light of comments in the press by Ajax’s , saying that “The league is dead. Life is more important” on the back of there being hundreds of daily deaths in The Netherlands as a result of COVID-19. There was discussion between guests around finding the balance between doing ‘the right thing’, but also working out what has to be done in terms of promotion, relegation and the awarding of league titles and how there is ultimately no answer that can satisfy all parties. Paul Robinson said he believed that deserved to be awarded with the title, based on the fact they were so far ahead and clearly the best team, before hastily adding that this was despite being beaten 3-0 by Watford!

We then moved onto the next feature: ‘The One That Got Away’ – where we hear from supporters who missed a famous game and have regretted it ever since. This week we heard from Mike Parkin, Watford fan since the 1986/87 season, whose ‘one that got away’ was the FA Cup Semi-Final victory over Wolves. He was away in New York, taking his kids to see Wrestlemania. Mike and his son, Arlo, were following the game from the apartment they were staying in (which had a weak Wifi connection).

Mike himself was following it on BBC Sport, whilst Arlo was following it on another app in a separate room. The whole family were a little dejected at 2-0 down, but Mike spoke of how the BBC Sport live text had mistakenly said that Wolves had been awarded a penalty, whilst Arlo was insisting that it was in fact Watford who had the

4 The View from the Vic Episode 2 penalty, which Troy Deeney duly despatched, cueing pandemonium in their apartment. Through extra time, they were travelling on the New York Subway, with the live text updating between stations. Mike and his family were overjoyed at the final whistle, but it dawned on him that he may well have missed one of the best moments in the clubs’ history.

? *Trivia Teaser – Who am I? Second Clues*

I played for managers including , and Graham Taylor. My teammates included , , , Jurgen Klinsmann, Paul Robinson and Jason Lee. I scored eight times for Watford and won two promotions. There will be a third set of clues later on, before the end of the episode. The next topic of discussion was around the shared experience between Nigel and Paul, when West Brom were involved in ‘The Great Escape’ in the 2004/05 season, with the side becoming the first to avoid relegation after being bottom of the table at Christmas. Paul talked a lot of the importance of having characters in the dressing room and a ‘never say die’ attitude. Nigel recalled a particular game in the second half of the season where, against the odds and the match statistics, they managed to secure themselves a 1-1 draw with Manchester City without having a shot on target.

Nigel then expanded on his earlier point about how important it was to have a strong collective spirit at a club, as it allows you to make more luck when the players are keeping each other going: “When I hear a lot of nonsense these days, when people are talking about how technical coaches are… The game’s always been about players and about how you get a group of players into the right state of mind so that you can go out and perform and tactics only really become relevant if the group of people are together out there because otherwise, apart from that, all this tactical nouse that people always want to talk about these days, is actually rather irrelevant. We are trying to find our way back up the league from a difficult situation and I think everybody at the football club would say we’ve got a really decent squad. What we’ve not possibly had is some direction and maybe organisation at times. A lot of it is the simple things that human being need more than anything”

5 The View from the Vic Episode 2 We then moved onto our second fan feature of the episode – ‘The Extra Mile’, where fans are asked how far they have gone to support the hornets. Watford supporter since 1977, Kate Holmes, told of how her father took herself and her brother to Kaiserslautern for the UEFA Cup game in 1983, taking them out of school for four days for the trip! They had originally planned to take a ferry and then catch a train through Belgium, but this plan was halted by train strikes, meaning they instead had to travel to the game through France.

? *Trivia Teaser – Who am I? Third and Final Clues*

I retired at the age of 35, won 60 caps for Israel and am perhaps best known for hitting the Villa Park crossbar.

Coming towards the end of the episode, it was difficult for talk not to turn towards ‘that game’ at involving a Troy Deeney goal and Nigel Pearson in the opposition dugout. Jon, without wanting to rub anything in, was eager to find out what Nigel was thinking through all of the drama and firstly, whether he thought it should have been a penalty in the moment. He didn’t think it should have been a penalty and talked of how there were a lot of opinions about the end result being justice for that fact. Nigel said his only concerns were with his own players, having gone through the brutality of that experience, as well as trying to get his players to put to bed any disappointment as soon as they could and make sure they got promoted the following season.

Kevin questioned Nigel on the fact that , and were (now somewhat infamously) left on the bench that day. Nigel then went on to speak of how his philosophy has always been to pick the side that is best suited on any given day to get the best result and there are a lot more things to factor in than a players’ individual ability, speaking of Jamie Vardy’s story and how he used to struggle hugely with his self-confidence, as well as a much younger Harry Kane described as having done ‘okay’ during his spell at , but perhaps not enough to displace some of the more prominent players in his position. Paul then spoke of the potential value to a players’ career of being left out of the team, as it allows a period of self-evaluation that can have a positive effect in the long run.

The final topic of discussion centred around the fans and the atmosphere that can be created in Vicarage Road, especially given the recent changes. Nigel spoke of how it

6 The View from the Vic Episode 2 is always a place that he, as a manager, felt his team had to be at their best to have a chance of coming away with a result. Paul was questioned on the rationale behind him making an effort to clap the fans all around the ground at the end of every game, during his career and he spoke of how he felt it was a matter of showing respect to the fans in return for them spending their hard earned money to watch them. He said he felt it was important to do this, regardless of the result. At this point, Jon thanked the guests for giving their time to appear on the podcast and the focus switched to revealing the answer of the trivia teaser.

? *Trivia Teaser – Who am I? Answer*

Nigel revealed the answer to be , before giving a message to supporters to stay safe and look after their families and each other.

Thank you very much for joining us. We look forward to welcoming you back next week!

[Z-Cars plays in background]

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